Washington, DC in Bloom!

I always like to see something new when I come to Washington, DC and this visit has been no different.

After an evening of all sorts of fun,
Clark and Meredith came back to the city to grab me on Saturday morning
to hit up a parade thrown in our honor for the annual
National Cherry Blossom Festival! 

***Quick History Lesson***

The National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the arrival of Spring. Cherry blossoms are not indigenous to DC, but in 1912 Japan gave the nation's capitol a gift of 300 cherry blossom trees, to note the enduring friendship between the people of the United States and Japan.

2012 marked the 100th Anniversary of this gift, and the city really did up the celebration in style!

We emerged from the city metro depths onto the National Mall for the beginning of the parade.

{Washington Monument and all the people!}

We waded through the crowds to find an open spot...

And within minutes the parade was off and running!

Loads of fun floats and bands followed up,

but Meredith and I decided that these girls were our favorite!

Darling, but kind of unrelated? 

Maybe they were supposed to look like cherry blossoms

skipping across the ground...

{Not Japanese Cherry Blossoms.}

It turned out I spoke too soon on my "favorites" because soon enough these guys passed by rocking out on their drums- they were exuding so much energy and fun!

{So fun!}

And even then, it got better when this little lady pulled past us

singing at the very top of her 1980's pop-star lungs:

{TIFFANY! There DOESN'T seem to be anyone around!!}

Once the parade was a wrap, we grabbed a quick lunch and then were back on the metro for our next stop, The International Spy Museum!  I had never been to this place, despite seeing it multiple times while visiting the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery right across the street on past excursion days.

It was hilarious!

So fun and really, really interesting!

Clark was our catalyst for checking it out, but I cannot thank him enough for suggesting it- I am now all learned up on being suspicious of everyone, and how to be an international spy.

After the Spy Museum, it was sugar time!

Meredith had wanted to try a Georgetown Cupcake,

but we were in Downtown DC and Georgetown was waaaay across town. 

Thank goodness for Crumbs!

I was passed along the secret of Crumbs Bake Shops by a great friend of mine

who had relocated to Manhattan a few years back. 

Her words were, "Sprinkles {California} cupcakes have nothing on this place!" and she was 100% right! 

 I would venture to say that Georgetown Cupcakes take a second place to Crumbs sweets also-

at least for me!

We walked in the front door and were immediately greeted by this massive selection:

{This was only about one-third of the whole case!}

Those who know me well know that I am completely incapable of making a decision...

especially when the selection is seemingly endless! 

Thank goodness I had some back-up brains in the form of Clark and Mere in tow!

We ended up with the following three cupcakes to taste between us {sharing? yeah right!}:

Meredith's choice

Clark's Choice

Kelly's Choice!

And the winner is...

- Meredith's Vanilla, Boston-cream-filled cake was the best of the three

{but her frosting tasted like burning!}

- Kelly's peanut butter frosting was ahhhhhh-mazing with the added crunch of salted peanuts

{but the chocolate cake base, although great, was just chocolate cake}

- Clark's cupcake was gone before we tasted it {so maybe the winner?}

I loved every single minute of our weekend, and I can't wait to see these two again really soon!